The Verrazano Effect
by csiny dragon
Summary: Inspired by and set after ASKessler's Identity Crisis. My version of what happened to Danny. Don't own the csi new york characters or ASKessler's character.
1. Chapter 1

The Verrazano Effect

Knock, knock.

"Professor?"

"Yes Sarndra?"

"The case you assigned me, the Messer Case? Um, I'd like an extension on it please?"

"The assignments are designed to be two week analysis examples only."

"I know sir … its just … I don't agree with the findings sir."

"And what don't you agree with?"

"The case summary indicates he may have fallen from the Verrazano? But the bruises don't support that. And it doesn't make sense sir. Everything keeps circling back to the bridge."

"How exactly does it circle back?"

"Forensics is about the evidence and a large part of that is defined by human behaviour. But the findings in this case don't take into account human behaviour. They seem to be based on a straight geographical line. I think the case isn't about the five days Detective Messer was missing. It's about something that happened on the bridge and he was collateral damage. The report said he pulled a woman, a diplomat's daughter, from her car after it was involved in a 21 car pile up on the bridge. It said she sent him back to the vehicle to retrieve something she'd left behind. Then a car exploded and distracted her and she didn't see him after that. What I don't get is why? Why would she send him to retrieve the thing when there was obvious danger in hanging round the vehicles? What could be that important? Then the evidence says he went to the car more than once. That would make sense. He went there once to pull her out, then again to get what she wanted and, if he found his badge missing, back again to find it. But she says she didn't see him again so he can't have reached her after he retrieved the item. So where is it? What was it? And why haven't they reported its disappearance? And that still doesn't explain how he ended up in the water? Or why, when he did reach dry land, he headed away from the bridge when the flashing lights and sirens would have told him he could get help back at the accident scene? Amnesia or not natural instinct would have sent him back towards the lights."

"So how did he end up going the other way?"

"Exactly! I've gone over this several times sir and I keep ending up with more questions than answers."

He tapped the side of his temple.

"Let me make some phone calls and then I'll give you my decision."

"Thank you professor." She left the office with a troubled look in her eyes.

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"You're not going to like this Mac." Flack ran his fingers through his hair and flicked open his notebook. Mac reached into the back of the car for his kit.

"Not going to like what?"

"Professor Timothy Suttercliffe. Teaches forensic science at NYU. Passerby noticed the body about an hour ago." He led the way through the park to the body sprawled on the bank of the river. Mac's eyes widened. He lifted the man's arm and turned it slightly.

"Distinctive bruising … under but not over, multiple bruises over the ribs, ankles and hands. More bruises on the insides of the knees and thighs."

"Sound familiar?"

"Too familiar! So, if he came out here where did he go in?"

"The Williamsburg?"

"Too close. The currents would have landed him at FDR and 34th. To beach here he'd have to have entered around the Manhattan." He stood up and looked across at the bridges. "The question is; did he fall or was he pushed?"

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Sarndra took in a deep breath and dialed the number.

"Hello! I'm calling in answer to a request for assistance from the New York University Student Union. The caller left the name Jorgenia and this number. Is it possible to speak to her at this time?"

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"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Stella poked her head around the office door.

"What's the bad news?" Mac closed the file he'd been reading and looked up. Stella hesitated as she saw the name on the front of it.

"Professor Suttercliffe lived in Tribeca and worked at NYU so there was no reason for him to be near the Manhattan."

"And the good news is?"

"We know how he died. He drowned. You re-opening Danny's file?"

Mac rubbed the back of his neck.

"We have two cases. Both victims have distinctive bruises in the same locations. Both tested positive for bacteria found in the Lower Bay and East River. Danny was seen on the Verrazano on the 11th of September and reappeared, with amnesia, on the 13th. The professor's car was located on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway between the Williamsburg and the Manhattan three hours before the body was found washed up in the East River Park. Danny is a forensic scientist and the professor taught forensic science…"

"And," Lindsay added over Stella's shoulder, "Danny's case was included in the study curriculum in the professor's class at NYU." She handed a list to Mac. "This is his student roll for the last semester. And don't ask what I had to do to get it!"

Mac looked at the column of names.

"Someone on this list knows more than we do."

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The car had the appearance of an official vehicle and looking closely Sarndra could see the attachments that would normally bear small flags of particular nations. She jammed the last of her notes in the carryall and climbed out the window dropping into the open rubbish skip. She reached up and threaded the nylon cord around the hinges tying the loose ends first to her ankles and then to her wrists pulling the knots tight with her teeth and then waited. The rubbish was due to be emptied at 5pm and she prayed the knots would hold. The alternative was to be compacted with the trash and dumped where-ever they dump it. She didn't want to think about that.

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Mac listed everything he knew about Danny's disappearance on the top sheet of the notepad and then listed everything he knew about the professor's death on the following page. He knew there had to be a link but he couldn't find it. He went back to the first page. Danny was traveling from Staten Island to work via the Verrazano Bridge. The diplomat's daughter, Jorgenia, was traveling in an embassy vehicle from Staten Island via the Verrazano. There was a crash. The embassy car was involved. Danny's cab stopped and he left it to assist the crash victims. He pulled the girl out of the car and onto the sidewalk. She sent him back to the car to get something she'd left behind. A car exploded into flames and she didn't see Danny again. He flipped the page. Jorgenia was a student at NYU where the professor taught but she didn't take any of his classes. He closed the notepad and went to get a coffee.

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Stella hid a smile as Flack got up from the chair and stretched.

"How many more of these we gotta do?"

She consulted the list.

"Twelve. The next name is Lisa Mathers."

He went to the door and looked into the hallway.

"Lisa Mathers?" A pretty little redhead rose and approached.

"I don't see how I can help?"

"You're in Professor Suttercliffe's class?"

"Yes."

"You took the case studies workgroup?"

"Yes."

"What case did you pick?"

"We don't pick the cases. The professor does. I got the Joanne Mccarthy case."

"Joanne McCarthy?"

"She was a New Zealand woman who was murdered by a man called Travis Burns. The case was almost identical to another New Zealand murder, Tania Furlan, only the man arrested for that was Christopher Lewis. He committed suicide in prison before he could be tried for the murder. And Travis Burns was the police informant who dobbed Lewis in. Right up to his death Lewis maintained that it was Burns who killed Furlan and McCarthy was murdered a year after Lewis died."

Stella smiled.

"I bet you're having fun with that one."

Lisa giggled.

"Not as much fun as Sarndra. Professor Suttercliffe gave the hardest one to her. He likes to challenge her 'cause she always thinks outside the box."

"What case did he give her?"

"The Messer case. A cop went missing for five days and he can't remember what he did or where he went. The evidence suggested he fell off a bridge but Sarndra didn't believe that. She said the bruises looked more like he was thrown off the bridge. She asked for an extension on the assignment the day before the professor died. I don't know if he granted it. I haven't seen her since yesterday."

Stella looked at Flack.

"Could you ask her to come in?"

"She's not out there. Her dorm room is next to mine. She hasn't been there since yesterday. No-one has. Not since those two national security jokers left. And she wasn't with them either. They seemed pretty pissed that they missed her. Can I go now? I've got a lecture in like ten minutes."

Flack nodded. Stella circled Sarndra's name on the list.

"We need to find this girl."

"I'll pull her file."

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"You okay Mac?" He looked up to find Danny standing over him.

"Yes, Why?"

"I've never known you to leave your office without your cell before." Mac's hand automatically went to his empty pocket.

"Damn!"

"It's okay. Stell called me when she couldn't reach you. She and Flack have a lead on the student. Her name is Sarndra Edwards and she's missing. They're going over to her dorm room now." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "You think we should start checking bridges?"

Mac had no answer for him.

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"Her laptop is gone. And her notes. She always keeps a hard copy of everything on her laptop just in case it crashes or something. I should do the same but I keep putting it off. I'd flunk my degree if I lost it all."

Flack looked up from the doorway.

"How many of the students keep their notes on their laptops?"

"Just about all of us. If you don't have your own the uni will loan you one for the duration of your course. We take them everywhere even parties. You can download your digital stills and e-mail them instantly, anywhere."

Flack thanked the room-mate and he and Stella headed for their car.

"You think the diplomat's daughter got her laptop back?"

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Mac leaned against the window frame looking out over the city.

"And this is definitive?" The black suited man waved the report in Mac's direction.

"Yes sir. The lab found the worm in the e-mail program. It's designed to copy pass-codes and data pathways between systems. We believe the intention was to use the student's e-mails to her father as a gateway into the UN mainframe to access classified information with a view to selling it to the highest bidder."

"But you still haven't identified the main players?"

"No sir. We know they are connected with the Ambassador's office, but we have no names as yet."

"And you have yet to find the girl?"

Mac kept silent. The man folded the report and slipped it into his jacket pocket.

"We'll have to notify the UN. But the most we can request is that they recall the staff associated with the office. We can't expect them to revoke their immunity if we can't name them." He looked up at Mac. "Find the girl. Your interest in the laptop is over as of now."

-------------------------------------------

Lindsay looked up from the screen as Mac entered the lab.

"You don't look happy?"

"We can't use the laptop or anything associated with it. Orders from upstairs."

Lindsay looked across at the computer tech Trey. Mac sighed.

"If I'm going to be fired I may as well know what for?"

"We printed the memory expansion card …"

"It's where the worm originated …"

"We got two clear prints and a partial …"

"Off the surface of the card …"

"So we're running them through immigration's database."

"Because?"

"The worm was programmed into the card. All they needed was two minutes to swap it with the original and the program would automatically load onto the pc's system. The worm records the required information on the card and then they swap it back at a later date."

Just then the screen beeped. Lindsay turned back to it.

"We've got a name. The partial belongs to Alexander Peyton. He's listed as UN administrative support staff."

"International organization support staff aren't covered by diplomatic immunity."

"But the print is on the card which is part of the laptop we aren't allowed to touch."

"Was the card removed from the laptop today?"

"No, we pulled it yesterday."

"Is the card back in the laptop?"

"No, it's still here in the lab. What are you getting at Mac?"

"The order to release the laptop came down today, so we release the laptop. If the card isn't back in it we don't have to put it back, unless they can prove it was part of the laptop, then we'll have to hand it over. But until then …"

"It's still ours. Mac Taylor you are a sneaky thinker."

"Keep running the prints." Mac left the lab with Lindsay's words playing on his mind.

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Stella threw her gloves at her kit in frustration.

"We've been over this room three times and the only trace we've got is some small orange fibres."

"There's no sign of a struggle. No evidence she left against her will. But no-one saw her leave."

Mac walked across to the window.

"You tell your professor you have concerns about your assignment. A couple of days later he is murdered. Then UN Embassy people come to your dorm looking for you. How do you leave?"

Flack walked to the door, picking up on Mac's train of thought.

"You can't take the lift because they'll be coming up that way. But they could be on the stairs too. And the fire escape is at the other end of the hall. The only other way is the window."

Mac looked down.

"The rubbish skip is directly below this window. She could have used it to break her fall."

They made their way down to the alley. Flack tapped the side of the skip. It echoed hollowly.

"Empty, or just about empty. I'll go find out when the truck comes."

Mac shone his torch along the back of the bin. A glint of orange caught his eye.

"Flack!" He called the tall detective back. "Give us a hand to move this. There's something back here." It took the three of them to move the skip away from the wall. Mac slipped in behind it and frowned. "Since when has the city tied orange nylon ropes on the lid-hinges of their rubbish bins?" He moved around the front of the bin and flipped the lid open. "Sweet Jesus!"

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Danny waited for the doctor to finish talking with Mac before approaching.

"How is she?"

Mac looked back at the still form on the bed.

"Very lucky to be alive. She has two cracked ribs, a hair-line fracture to the left side of her pelvic bone, her left arm is broken in two places, left collar-bone is broken and there is a medium force fracture to her skull."

"Clever girl." Mac raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged, "the knots held." Mac frowned.

"Stay with her. I want you here when she wakes up. She'll trust you."

"If you're going back to the lab you'd better take these." Danny handed him several sheets of paper. "The professor's phone records. I picked them up on the way over here."

"Did you read them too?"

"Yeah," Danny hid a smirk, "but I wouldn't wanna spoil your fun."

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Sarndra opened her eyes slowly. The room was dimly lit.

"I had them turn the lights down so they wouldn't hurt your eyes. You have a skull fracture." She held her breath as the speaker came into view. "Mac … my boss thought you might feel safer with me here."

"Danny Messer." The effort it took to speak sent pain shooting through her head. She closed her eyes and bit her lip.

"I'll get the nurse."

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"According to the phone records, the day before his death, the professor made two calls and received one in return. The first call was to the MTA …"

"Requesting specifics on the railing design of the Verrazano," Stella broke in, "they sent them to his office who forwarded them to us." She put the roll of paper on Mac's desk.

"The second call …" Mac was interrupted again, this time by Flack.

"Was to the UN Embassy. Jorgenia said she spoke to an NYU professor but she couldn't remember his name. He wanted to know what she'd left in the car at the time of the accident. We already know about the laptop."

"Now we know the professor knew about it. What about the incoming call?" Stella turned back to Mac as he consulted the list.

"It originated from the Brooklyn Naval Yard."

"If someone wanted to know how much the professor knew they might schedule a meeting with him. But that doesn't explain why the call came from the Navy Yard?"

"It could be because that's where the Ambassador's support staff are billeted." Lindsay added her report to the growing pile of papers. "Normally they are billeted in the embassy itself but one of the buildings failed its earthquake and fire regulation inspection. They closed it four months ago and moved the staff to a decommissioned UN supply ship moored in the Navy Yard."

"One of those support staff wouldn't happen to be Alexander Peyton?"

"Yes, but according to the official records he was at the embassy itself the night the professor died."

"And no-one at the embassy has seen him since yesterday morning," Flack added, "so we're still no closer to finding him."

--------------------------------------------

Sarndra traced the outline of the bruises on Danny's arms on the crime scene photos pinned to the board. Stella put the clipboard on the table and came up behind her.

"How's the head?"

"Pretty good. They gave me some strong painkillers." She sighed. "The railings don't match."

"No. But the bruises are consistent with a railing pattern. We just have to figure out where they are."

"I wish I could do more to help."

"You've done a lot already. Before you came along all we had was some bacteria and a few sightings. Now we know about the laptop and the worm program. You've given Danny answers we couldn't." Stella smiled, "You're not native here are you?"

Sarndra giggled.

"I thought I was doing a good job of losing the accent."

"You are. It's just occasionally noticeable. So where is home?"

"New Zealand. I won a two year scholarship to NYU. I guess I just got tired of people asking if New Zealand was part of Australia."

"It's still a long way to come to do a bachelor degree."

"But it makes a change from soil and water testing … maybe I can still help. The case file said there were soil and grass samples. Grass contains microscopic insects and plant spores and my laptop has the DNA templates to profile them. I should be able to narrow the field some more and tell you where they came from."

Stella frowned.

"That software is very expensive."

"Fifteen thousand dollars is the current price but it'll probably drop when DNA machines become more commonplace. And you need access to microscopes to identify the organisms first."

"And two good hands."

Sarndra looked sheepishly at her arm in its cast and sling.

"Sometimes I really hate being left-handed!"

Stella laughed.

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"Is this a private party or can anyone join in?"

Danny looked up.

"Mac! Check it out! There are 1500 microscopic insects and 2400 microscopic spores in New York parks."

"And how many did you attract?"

Sarndra looked up from the laptop.

"170 spores and 135 insects on his shirt and jeans. We're just getting started on his socks."

"Sarndra?" Lindsay frowned, "what's Pfiesteria Pisc…"

"Pfiesteria Piscicida?" Mac moved over to the readout, "is a microbe normally found in rivers and estuaries. It's non-toxic."

"It's actually an estuarine dinoflagellate … a type of algae. And it has 24 morphological forms one of which is toxic to fish, specifically the finned type, and is probably responsible for some reported cases of illness among humans. We just don't have conclusive proof yet."

Danny moved closer.

"But you said probably?"

"The alga produces two toxins, one is water-soluble and the other is fat-soluble. The water-soluble toxin affects the central nervous system of the fish stunning it then the fat-soluble toxin damages the fish's skin causing ulcers and disturbing the internal salt balance. The fish dies and decomposes releasing high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus which the alga then feeds on. But it's also non-pigmentational. It doesn't produce the colour change that usually signifies the presence of an algal bloom in the water so the only time we can prove its active is when dead fish appear. So although people complain of suffering certain symptoms around these incidents we can't prove they're caused by it."

"Like what symptoms?"

"Skin rashes…"

Danny shook his head.

"Nope."

"Eye irritations …"

"Uh-uh."

"Speech problems …"

"Does stammering count?"

"Possibly … but don't quote me on it. Dyspnoea …"

Lindsay looked up.

"That's like air hunger isn't it? It makes you feel like you can't get enough air into your lungs. Like you're suffocating."

Sardnra nodded.

"That's it! We know the answer to the next one. Loss of concentration and memory."

"Oh yeah!"

"And headaches and muscle cramps."

"Which can be explained by the fall and the lump on the back of his head."

"Exactly."

"So what does the information we have so far tell us?"

"That there's a 70 probability that Danny spent time in Dyker Beach Park and …" Sarndra frowned, "the East River Park." She nodded to Lindsay, "Click on help for further confirmation. Yep it's definitive. There was a Pfiesteria bloom recorded off Dyker Beach in our time frame and that exact match of microscopic matter could only have come from those two parks." Sarndra looked across to Stella. "The East River Park has a railing between the path and the river itself ..."

"And we have it in the professor's crime scene photos." The two girls rushed off leaving the others standing there. Danny shrugged and called after them.

"That's okay we'll just find something else to do."

"How 'bout a trip to New Zealand?" Flack waved a teletype in their direction. "They just I.D'd a body in their harbour. It's Peyton's. They wanna know if we wanna handle it personally?"

Danny looked hopefully at Mac who frowned thoughtfully.

"I don't know if the budget will handle three of us going."

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Stella put the clipboard down on the pavement and picked up the twisted spectacle frames.

"They look like Danny's."

Lindsay handed her an evidence bag.

"D.N.A should confirm it."

"If there's any trace left. After all it's been a year since Danny …"

Lindsay shrugged.

"They've lay under this fern for some time and the leaves are quite dense. Plus the path slants towards the river so the rain drains away from this spot not to it … I say it's worth a try."

Stella frowned.

"The lenses are missing …"

"Could have been broken in a struggle?"

"Some of the bruises could account for that." They stood up and looked across at the railing by the river. "They'd have needed a car to get either of them here."

"The evidence shows Danny was reaching inside the embassy car. It doesn't show he was completely inside it."

"So it had to be another vehicle …"

"Which would make sense. The first car was damaged in the crash so they send another to pick up Jorgenia and get her to safety …"

"So whoever drove that may have intercepted Danny on his way back to the bridge and brought him here."

"Now all we have to do is prove it."


	2. Chapter 2

"How did you manage this?" Sarndra shifted slightly in her seat trying to get more comfortable. "You call your commissioner and he calls the secretary of defense who calls our secretary of defense who calls our police commissioner?"

"Something like that." Mac stifled a yawn. She giggled.

"Am I keeping you awake?"

Mac started to smile but got interrupted by another yawn. She started to laugh and then choked a little as a yawn overtook her.

"Look who's talking." He reached over and slid their seats into a more reclined position. "We still have another ten hours in the air so I suggest we get some rest while we can."

"Before we land or before Danny wakes up?"

Mac looked across at the young CSI slumbering contentedly in the aisle seat.

"I don't think there's much chance of him waking before we land. He's pretty …" he trailed off as a warm weight settled against his shoulder, "tired." He brushed Sarndra's hair away from her face as gently as he could without waking her.

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Flack knocked on Mac's office door before entering.

"You planning on ousting the boss?"

Stella grinned from behind the desk.

"Who would you rather see sitting here?" she asked leaning forward and playfully batting her eyelashes. He fumbled with his notebook.

"The, err … the best person for the job. And speaking of which, there was a second car. A charcoal grey Lexus was dispatched by the embassy to pick up Jorgenia at the Verrazano at 6.45 am on the 11th. I'll give you three attempts to name the driver."

"Umm … Alexander Peyton?"

"The one and only."

"So we can link him to the laptop card but not to the accident. And we can place him in the second car but we can't put Danny in that car. We can place Danny and the professor at the East River Park but we can't put Peyton or the Lexus there. And because we can't prove Danny was in contact with Peyton we don't have grounds to search the Lexus." She shook her head. "I hope Mac's doing better than we are."

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"The yachties spotted the suitcase out by the yellow buoy you see in the water. They tried to pull it aboard but it was too heavy so they opened it. Saw some flesh and bloody clothing and closed it again. Then called us."

Mac looked around the wharf.

"Do you know how it got there?"

"Security tape from the port building shows it being thrown off the wharf about where you're standing and we traced your victim to his hotel room. Our guys have spent the past two days going over it. According to the hotel lobby tape your victim and another guy went up to the room and then, about two hours later, the second man left and returned with three others. They look like students. Those three left with the suitcase and they're seen again on the wharf tape. We think they may have been paid to get rid of the case and panicked when they found the body in it."

Mac nodded.

"They could have dumped it with the hope that it would sink in the Harbour. You got an I.D on them yet?"

Detective Lewis shook his head.

"We're still looking." He checked his watch. "The lab said they should have some results from the Vic's clothes around one. It should take us roughly half an hour to get there unless you'd rather stick around here for a while?"

"I thought your office was a few blocks away?" Danny looked confused.

"The police don't have their own crime lab here." Sarndra turned back from examining the wharf. "They sub-contract to the E.S.R, the institute of environmental science and research, in Mount Albert."

Detective Lewis nodded.

"With the exception of some palynology services, we sub-contract to Agriquality in Mt Wellington for those."

"So your scientists aren't police?"

"No they're not."

"So how much does that pay … just by comparison?"

Mac frowned.

"Danny!"

Danny pouted.

"I was just asking."

Sarndra grinned.

"The average wage here is about 25 to 30 thousand a year and a good forensic scientist can earn up to 120 thousand a year." Even Mac looked impressed. "But that's before tax and, believe me; you get taxed on everything here. Money going in the bank, money coming out of the bank and anything you spend it on. And on that kind of income the rate is something like 33 to 39 cents on the dollar?"

"So you earn 120 and only get to keep 80?"

"Kind of takes the shine off doesn't it?"

Mac shrugged.

"You'd still get paid more here than you would back home. Excuse me," he moved aside and pulled out his cell phone, "Taylor ... Hi Stella … no Danny wasn't bouncing off the wall of the plane. In fact he slept for most of the flight. How did the search go … did you … we're just heading there now. I'll call you when I know more." He climbed into the car. "The lab just confirmed it. The railing at East River matches the bruises on both New York victims. They want to know if we've linked Peyton to the scene yet."

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Lindsay found Stella in the conference room and handed her a file.

"We've got another name, Jochaim Boku. He was the driver involved in the accident. His prints just came in from the embassy and they match the prints we lifted from the railing at East River Park near the professor's body."

"We need to get this photo to Mac."

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"The case is generic. There's nothing on or in it to distinguish it from another of the same size and brand. The victim's clothes are the same. D.N.A comes back to him and there are no foreign fibres or other such trace."

"Are you suggesting he folded himself in the case?"

"More likely the perp used articles of the victim's clothing to shield himself from leaving trace and then took that clothing with him. Now the shoes tell a different story. For a start there are two distinctively different sizes. We have three size 10 pairs and one pair of size nine and a half. The nine and a half's are casual loafer style and the three size tens are Italian leather formals. One of the size tens also had these glass fragments embedded in the soles. They've been there a while but the unusual thing is that the glass is prescription lens glass and the victim didn't wear spectacles."

A young man in a lab coat approached.

"Detective Taylor?" he asked timidly.

"Yes."

"There's a fax for you at the reception desk. It's marked urgent."

Mac hardly had time to acknowledge the message and the assistant was gone, slipping back into the safe haven of the laboratory. They retraced their steps to the front desk.

"Jochaim Boku. Look familiar?" Mac handed the paper to Lewis.

"No. I'll circulate it anyway but that's not the guy on the tape."

Mac leaned across the desk and handed the lab report to the receptionist.

"Could you fax this to the number at the top of the page?"

She smiled.

"Of course, Sir."

"This should be grounds enough to search the Lexus."

Danny looked disappointed.

"Do we have to go home already?"

"Stella can handle it. And besides, we still don't know who killed Peyton or who threw you off the bridge."

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Stella ran her gloved hand across the shiny exterior of the sedan.

"It's almost a shame to spoil this finish."

Lindsay clunked the toolbox down on the concrete floor.

"Car like this always gets detailed after it's used so the evidence isn't going to stick its head up and say here I am."

Stella sighed.

"Let's do it!"


	3. Chapter 3

"You're awfully quiet," Mac put his coffee down and took the seat next to Sarndra.

"It's taking too long." She sighed heavily. "They're not going to get anything from the Lexus."

Mac put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't underestimate the girls."

"I'm not. But we're talking about a guy who wears his victim's clothes to avoid leaving trace evidence. He wouldn't put Danny in any vehicle that could trace back to him."

Mac shifted his hand to the small of her back.

"Come on. What you need is a good night's sleep. Things'll look better in the morning."

"The results won't."

"So we go back and start again."

"Back to the bridge … again."

Mac sat down again and pulled out his notebook and pen.

"The first time you analysed the case you ran the possible ways Danny could have fallen from the bridge. Then you backtracked to the accident and found out about the laptop. Maybe we need to go back further … The Verrazano is a six lane per level bridge with a concrete divider through the middle and the accident blocked three lanes on one side. How could they have known the embassy car would be involved?"

Sarndra shrugged.

"They couldn't … unless they were ahead of it." She frowned. "But they'd have had to have known the accident was going to happen …"

"Or caused it." Mac finished the thought. "We need to know how many embassy cars were on that bridge."

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"We got a total of five embassy cars on the bridge that morning Mac. Four, including the Lexus, made it off before the accident and then the Lexus u-turned to pick up Jorgenia."

"Flack!"

He held Lindsay off as he listened to Mac's instructions.

"I'll run them all and get back to you." He then gave Lindsay his attention. "Couldn't you have waited?"

"The Lexus got to Staten Island via the Ferry. It didn't cross the bridge west-bound."

"That's impossible! We've got it on the bridge security tape traveling west-bound at 6.35am."

"And we've got it on the ferry security tape on the Manhattan-Staten Island run at 6.30am. That's a twenty-five minute ride."

They looked at each other.

"Can't be in two places at the same time."

"What can't be in two places at once?" Stella joined the hall-way conference.

"The Lexus. We've found two security tapes that place the car in separate places at the same time."

"Are either of the tapes doctored?"

"No and we've got witness statements from both places too."

"Identical cars."

"With identical plates?"

-------------------------------

"How do you get one car in two places at once?" Danny looked confused.

"You don't." Sarndra didn't look up. "You get two look-alike cars and switch plates back and forth."

"So how would they both read the same plate at the same time?"

"One plate on one car and the other on the other car." She snagged Mac's cell phone off the table and hit re-dial. "Stella, its Sarndra. Your tapes … do they both show the same view of the cars..? One front view and one back view. I thought so. Look for a tape showing the opposite view of either vehicle. Legally they need two plates each to be on the road so if they're sharing one set they still need another set to divide up between the cars. Find that plate and you find the other Lexus."

-----------------------------------

"Two digits … one number and one letter different from each other." Flack shook his head and reached for his ringing phone. "Flack … you have … I'll be right over." He hung up. "Riverdale police just picked up Jochaim Doku. They're holding him for us."

"Maybe he can tell us who drove the second Lexus?"

"And where it is!" !" Stella sighed at Lindsay's frown. "What?"

"How do we know which Lexus is which? We've linked Peyton to Danny and Danny to the East River Park. But we haven't linked Danny to the Lexus Peyton drove. And Flack said Peyton was dispatched BY the embassy. He didn't say FROM the embassy. Which fits the timeline. If Peyton was in the vicinity of the bridge he could have picked up Jorgenia by 6.45 am. But if he left Manhattan on the 6.30 am ferry he wouldn't have reached the Verrazano until 7 am at the earliest."

"So why send the second Lexus and why change the plates?"

"So we'd confuse the two cars and search the wrong one."

"Which would mean …"

"It was sent to get rid of the evidence."

There was a couple of minutes of silence.

"Umm …" Stella detected a note of concern in Lindsay's voice. "You don't think they'd try again do you? … Now they know Danny's alive I mean."

-------------------------------------

"Where's Danny?" Mac frowned as Sarndra handed his a pair of binoculars.

"Behind you."

He turned to look out the full wall glass window. Four boats bobbed in the bay as a fifth wove around them towing a waterskier. Mac raised the binoculars in time to see the grin on Danny's face as he released the rope.

"You said you wanted to keep an eye on him without having to listen to him whinge and whine about being bored."

"Does he know we can see him?"

"I don't think he's thinking about that right now."

"And when he gets bored waterskiing?"

She reached under the desk and dumped handfuls of pamphlets in his arms.

"We've got kite surfing, surfing, paragliding, game fishing, laser strike, jet skiing, scuba diving, go-cart racing, skiing and snow boarding at Snowplanet, bumper cars, vertical bunji, white-water rafting, spear fishing, drag-racing, parachuting, hang-gliding, bunji-jumping, harbour-bridge walk, rock climbing, trail biking, horse-riding, glow-worm caves …" She paused as he began to laugh. "I'm glad you approve 'cause I told the boys you'd make up the war-game numbers."

He stopped laughing abruptly.

"You what!"

"Well you keep saying if Danny doesn't behave you'll shoot him. Now I'm giving you the opportunity to do just that … with paintballs." She smiled at his dubious expression. "Loosed up Mac, you'll enjoy it I promise."

--------------------------------------

"We've got you for conspiracy to conceal a crime."

Jochaim twisted his handkerchief in his hands.

"I drive car. That all. I drive Miss Jorgenia. I know nothing about accident." The panic in his voice was evident.

"You returned her laptop to her."

"She ask me. First she ask policeman. He no come back. Then she ask me so I take computer to her."

"We have your prints off the railing at the East River Park right above the spot the professor's body was found."

All the colour drained from his face.

"The professor dead? I know nothing! I drive Miss Jorgenia. She want to go to park. I drive to park. She say 'Jochaim walk with me'. I lock car and walk. She say 'wait at car'. I go back to car and wait."

"Why did she want to go to the park?"

"She go to meet professor. She say he help her study."

"Can you describe him?"

"I no see. She come back to car. Say he no show. We leave. Go back to embassy."

---------------------------------

"You missed a bit." Sarndra licked her thumb and rubbed the yellow smear off Mac's cheek. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. She sucked her breath in sharply. "What was that for?"

"You were right I did enjoy the game. Shooting Danny was very satisfying even if it was with paintballs."

"And you are wrong. He didn't miss … not once." The blue eyed, be-spectacled head-to-toe rainbow eased past her and headed for the showers.

----------------------------------

Flack closed the door of the interrogation room.

"What do you think?"

Stella shrugged.

"He drive car full stop. But he puts Jorgenia on her own at the accident site and the East River Park. And we still haven't matched the other prints on the card."

"The embassy won't release her prints. She has diplomatic immunity."

"But she attends NYU where all the students have lockers, the inside of which is covered by the immunity …"

Flack smiled.

"But not the outside. I'll get the warrant."

--------------------------------------------

Detective Lewis pinned three photos to the board.

"Andrew Willis, Steven Daley and Mark Bryant. All 18 years old. All students at Auckland University and all in custody for failure to report a crime. We can charge them with evidence tampering too if you want."

"You don't think it would do any good?"

"I think they're already plenty scared. The guy paid them $500 a piece to dump the suitcase. It was Mark's idea to dump the contents and keep the case …"

"Until they saw what was inside."

Lewis nodded.

"They panicked."

"You get a description of the guy who paid them?"

"Older guy maybe mid fifties and white. Short dark hair graying at the temples, bushy eyebrows, blue eyes with crow's feet wrinkles around them, high cheekbones, narrow straight nose, ear lobes connected to the sides of his face, thin upper lip and a full lower lip, they didn't see his teeth, square chin with a cleft, saggy jowls, small diagonal scar just below adam's apple, clean shaven with no sideburns, …"

Sarndra frowned.

"Photographic memory?"

"Fine Arts students. Our perp is 6 foot tall, medium build with a slight paunch, wearing a Jacob Innes white silk shirt, Romaldi tie in dark grey, double-breasted mid grey Armani suit, lapel pin was a globe with a peace sign over it, black leather belt with an infinity sign on the buckle, hands were smooth with no obvious scars of calluses, no rings, watch was a gold Rolex, shoes were Italian leather patent formals. And his left foot turns inwards slightly. Where's your offsider?"

Mac looked across at Sarndra who checked her diary.

"1pm … Lion feeding at the zoo. We told him if he's a good boy they'll let him ride the elephant."

---------------------------------------------

Stella flicked open the folder.

"Scott Delgato. NYU pre-law student. 4.0 grade point average and you live in Staten Island. You've also got a part-time job tutoring 9th grade math to a UN embassy ambassador's daughter. I'm guessing that's how you hooked up with Jorgenia. You met her at the embassy and got talking. You found out she attended NYU and you got together from there. How am I doing so far?"

"What is this Romeo and Juliet?"

"Romeo and Juliet didn't try to kill a cop."

He sat back in the seat and folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You should, you see we got your prints from the NYU student union. They match the prints we got off Jorgenia's locker. They also match prints taken from a memory expansion card used to commit international espionage. The card was found in Jorgenia's laptop. Your prints also match the prints we took from the steering wheel and boot of a charcoal grey Lexus. We found the cop's blood in the boot and on your t-shirt along with a rather nasty algae only found in the lower New York Bay. The evidence tells us that he was thrown off the Verrazano into the bay. Now we know you didn't throw him off the bridge because you were on the Staten Island Ferry with the Lexus. But I'm pretty sure you know who did. I want that name!"

"And I want a lawyer!"

"You need one!"


	4. Chapter 4

"How many guys you know wear double-breasted Armani suits?" Flack waved the folder at Lindsay.

"Armani makes double-breasted suits?"

"Exactly! And according to their records they've sold five in New York in the last three years, four in Manhattan and one in Riverdale."

"Armani has a shop in Riverdale?"

"It was mail-order. I tracked the address. Turns out the guy also bought two suitcases lately, Bestland brand."

"Same brand as the Peyton suitcase." Stella joined the conversation.

"Same brand, same size, same colour and same contents. Homeless guy found the second one while dumpster diving in a Bronx alley. M.E puts the time of death at three hours prior to discovery, which tracks time wise. Immigration puts him on a N.Z – N.Y flight two days after Peyton's death."

"Five days before Mac and Danny flew out. So where's he been since then?"

"According to the contents of his wallet and apartment he's been to Staten Island and NYU."

"Lisa Mathers already I.D'd Doku as one of the embassy guys she saw looking for Sarndra. Let's run another line-up past her to see if she picks this guy as the 2nd."

"Stel …" The quiet tone in his voice sent a chill down her spine. "He had Danny's home address in his wallet."

-----------------------------------

"We gotta go home now?" Danny couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice.

"Day after tomorrow." Mac packed the latest reports in his briefcase.

"Oh."

Mac sighed.

"Talk to Lewis. He might be able to pull some strings for you."

Danny brightened up.

"You think?"

"Go! Before I change my mind."

-----------------------------------

It was obvious the apartment was empty. Stella holstered her gun, looked at the mess and then turned to Flack.

"What's Danny's normal clutter and what isn't?"

"Danny's got a thing for cockroaches. He only likes them battered and deep-fried so any food outta the fridge or cupboard ain't his thing. Clean clothes get hung up anywhere there's room unless they're underpants or socks. They go in a drawer, any drawer." Stella shook her head. "Hey, don't complain to me! He only cleans up when he's bringin' a date back here and with the hours he works that ain't as often as he'd like."

"Aiden was right. He does 'put the mess in Messer'.

He waggled a finger at her.

"I know that look."

"What look?"

"The one that says, when you're done processing this place you're gonna clean it up."

"He can't live like this, it's unhealthy!"

He grinned.

"I can't wait to see the look on his face when you tell him to go clean his room."

----------------------------------

Danny knocked on the door.

"It's open." Lewis didn't look up.

"It's me, Danny."

"What can I do for you Detective Messer."

"The thing is … umm … we're flying out the day after tomorrow … and …" He took a deep breath, "I wanna walk the harbour bridge."

Lewis frowned.

"You're supposed to book at least 48 hours in advance for that."

"I know … I just … Mac thought … maybe you could make a few calls?"

--------------------------------------

"The prints in Danny's apartment lead back to our dead guy and the prints in his apartment are a match to Jorgenia's." Lindsay handed the report to Stella.

"So let's bring her in."

"Small problem," Flack leaned in the open doorway. "She's not in N.Y.C. The embassy won't say where she is."

"She's in the wind."

-----------------------------------

"Where's Danny?" Mac and Lewis all but flew into the control room. Sarndra turned to answer him.

"He's on the bri…"

"Where on the bridge?"

"They've just reached the road level heading up to the platform at the base of the flags." The technician answered.

"Why?" Sarndra got up from her chair.

"Jorgenia's here in Auckland. The hotel clerk said she was enquiring about the bridge walk." Lewis leaned over the tech's shoulder and punched in her name. "Here it is." He frowned. "She's been flagged! What does that mean?"

The tech tapped some more keys.

"She booked four times and backed out of three walks."

"Why would she ..?"

Sarndra turned back to the screen.

"Everyone on each tour is required to attend a pre-walk briefing. She was looking for Danny. She's on the bridge with him."

The technician turned pale and nodded, not liking the idea of someone the police were looking for being on his bridge.

"We need to shut this down." Mac took the seat next to Sarndra. Lewis shook his head.

"The guide is connected to the group via transmitter/receiver. If you alert him she'll know something is wrong. And if we shut the bridge …"

Mac nodded.

"As soon as the traffic stops she'll know. So how do we reach them without tipping her off?"

"You can't. The closest you can get is about six feet from the top walkway. Then you're in the open. The walkway runs almost half the length of the arch, that's about 120 metres. She'll kill him before you can get close."

"Not necessarily."

"No!" Mac saw where the conversation was headed. "I'm not risking your safety."

"Look at me, Mac! I'm left-handed and that arm is broken. I'm no threat to her!"

"She's not planning to walk away from this, Sarndra! She knows we'll shut the bridge down and she'll be trapped. She'll take as many people with her as she can. Danny is a police officer, you're not. He knows the risk."

"But I'm the reason he's out there. I can't sit back and do nothing!"

"You can and you will if I have to handcuff you to that chair!" He gave her his sternest glare. She met it with her most stubborn stare.

"You try it and you'd better be wearing a cricket box mister!"

-----------------------------------

"Woah!" Danny stepped back from the railing. "Is that?"

"An Orca." The guide nodded. "We see quite a few of them. Keep looking and you'll see more. They travel in pods."

"It looks about the size of a car."

"It is, and it's only a teenager. Adults can grow up to 8 ½ to 10 metres long. The dorsal fin of a male grows to 5'9" tall. If you want a better idea of an orca's size consider this; each eye is the size of your fist and its teeth are up to five inches long, that's roughly twice the length of your thumb, and they have between 40 to 52 teeth in total each."

"Remind me never to argue with one."

"There's never been an attack on a human by a wild orca. They're actually a dolphin not a whale."

"I still don't think I wanna get that close."

"It's not that far, Detective," Jorgenia edged closer, "only about 200 feet straight down."


	5. Chapter 5

"You're not trained for this."

"I know the bridge, Mac. I've studied it back to front and inside out. I can reach him. You have to let me try."

Mac looked around desperately searching his brain for an alternative option. Every instinct screamed 'stop her' but he knew she was right. He also knew Jorgenia would try to kill them both.

"Okay, but you wear a harness and we'll be right behind you."

------------------------------------------

Sarndra cautiously poked her head above the top tread of the stairway. She didn't know what to expect but what she saw froze her in her tracks. Danny and Jorgenia were locked together on the narrow walkway the sunlight glinting off the silver knife blade suspended between their hands. She bit back a scream as Jorgenia suddenly twisted slicing the knife through Danny's radio belt and grazing his side. Danny responded by forcing Jorgenia back a step as he tried to prise the blade from the girl's grip. The metal dimples in the walkway surface caused Jorgenia to stumble and fall pulling him down with her where their combined weight proved too much for the railing support.

"Danny!" Sarndra lunged forward screaming as Jorgenia went over the side, her fingers still locked around Danny's wrist. There was a sickening crack as Sarndra's cast hit the walkway floor. She closed her eyes and prayed the fastest prayer in history simultaneously closing her fingers around the first thing they touched.

-----------------------------------------------

Mac and Lewis made it up the stairs in record time. It took the New York CSI a split second to assess the situation before he threw himself at Sarndra locking his fingers around Danny's wrist just as she let go. He could tell by the position of her shoulder the release had not been voluntary. The joint was swelling fast and the discolouration spoke of internal bleeding.

"Don't move her!" He all but snarled at Lewis. The detective changed ground and climbed over both of them to help pull Danny up. Mac had just mustered the strength to lift the unconscious form of the younger man when Lewis's voice at his shoulder stopped him.

"How long do you think you can hold on?"

Mac inched forward and glanced over the edge. Danny hung facing the walkway and just below the edge of the cantilever strut Mac could see a darker object, the hilt of the knife, protruding from his abdomen.

"I can hold him but I can't turn him."

"We pull him up the way he is that knife will slice him open."

"Can you reach it?" Mac didn't want to think of the consequences of removing the knife but he also knew they were running out of options … fast. Lewis climbed back over Mac and undid Sarndra's radio belt.

"Can you undo yours?"

Mac fumbled one-handedly with the buckle and slid the belt free. Lewis buckled the three belts together and used them to lower himself over the edge. The remaining railing supports groaned under the extra pressure. It took three attempts to get a grip on the handle which was by now slippery with Danny's blood.

"I can't pull it free. He's swinging too much."

Mac rested his head against Sarndra's. Her breathing was becoming more laboured and he knew her time was running out. He was also feeling the strain of holding Danny creeping up his arm. He and Lewis were the only hope Danny had because no-one else could get close on the narrow surface. If he let Danny go he could move away and let them secure Sarndra for the airlift to hospital. If he held on and Sarndra … somehow … fell … off the walkway it would let the others close enough to get Danny up and safely off to hospital. He reached out a shaky hand and felt for her pulse. It was there. It was weak but it was there. He drew an even more shaky breath as the bright red Westpac Rescue chopper drew closer. 'Think!' he commanded his brain. 'There must be a way to save them both.' He closed his eyes and thought of his time with her. He couldn't deny it. He liked the way she thought. 'Who else' he asked himself 'would think of tying themselves to the inside of a rubbish skip? Who else would send Danny waterskiing right outside the office window? Who else would …' he lifted his head.

"Lewis!"

"Yeah Mac?"

"Do you think you could stop the stretcher from tangling in the bridge struts if we bring it in under Danny?"

Lewis frowned.

"Under Dan..? He suddenly saw what Mac was suggesting. "We can give it a shot." He radioed the idea to the pilot and the chopper veered away from them. A few tense minutes later it was back complete with stretcher and crewman dangling beneath it. Mac reached over and brushed a lock of stray hair away from Sarndra's face.

"It won't be long, I promise." He adjusted his body position and added his free hand to grip Danny's arm just below the other hand. The blood was beginning to drip from the knife handle onto Danny's boots and into the harbour below. He pulled back as much as he was able as the stretcher flew into view, the cable snaking eerily close to his position. He felt it smack against the structure.

Lewis caught the cable with his foot and pinned it against the beam as the crewman tilted the stretcher into a vertical position. The pilot was given the thumbs up and he started the winch. Lewis and the crewman worked together to position the stretcher frame against Danny's back and buckled chest strap around the injured man. Mac slowly released his grip on Danny as the two men slowly returned the stretcher to a horizontal axis, pausing slightly to ease the cables around the patient. Then Lewis gently pushed the stretcher away from the bridge and the chopper headed off with its cargo.

"Next stop Auckland Hospital." Lewis hauled himself back up next to Mac. "How is she?"

"Not so good." Mac winced as rolled onto his back.

"You look like you need to be checked out."

"Sarndra first. I'll be alright in a few days."

"You'll be alright when a doctor says you are." Lewis gently eased his arm under the CSI Supervisor's shoulders and helped him to his feet. The effort drained more colour from Mac's face as his shoulders screamed in protest. The walkway seemed to sway beneath his so he put his hand out to steady himself … and clutched at thin air.


End file.
